Sonnet On the Present Crisis of Affairs, as Regards the Emancipation of the Negroes, by Chauncey Hare Townshend
Go, ask departed Ages -- they reply,
"Not all the banded might of Tyranny!"
Then, Britain, with undaunted heart, fulfil
Thy glorious lot -- to break the bonds of ill,
And cleanse the world from base Captivity!
Lo! Freedom watches thee with anxious eye,
While the poor negro's fettered hands are still
Held out to thee for aid! Oh scorn delay,
And wavering counsels planned by selfish men!
Good deeds should be to noble thoughts as near
As thunder to its lightning. Let not then
The righteous debt, Heaven summons thee to pay,
Be meted out with slow and sordid fear.
Chauncey Hare Townshend.
Skiddaw-Lodge, Keswick.
June, 1833.